28 BOWDOIN BOYS IN LABRADOR. 



the season. Some of the vessels are employed in merely bring- 

 ing salt and taking away the fish, notably the great iron tramp 

 steamers of from 1,500 to 2,000 tons, which seem so much out 

 of place moored to the sides of some of the little rocky harbors. 

 The average catch in a good year is, we were informed, from 

 four to six hundred quintals in a vessel of perhaps forty tons, 

 by a crew of from four to eight men. The trap outfit costs 

 about $500 and is furnished by the large fish firms in Newfound- 

 land, to be paid for with fish. As the market price, to the fish- 

 ermen, is from five dollars to six dollars a quintal, the value of 

 the industry is at once apparent. 



The great bulk of the fish go to Mediterranean ports direct, 

 to Catholic countries, chiefly, and also to Brazil. The small 

 size and imperfect curing which the Labrador summer allows 

 make the fish almost unsalable in English and American mar- 

 kets. Many of the cod are of the black, Greenland variety, 

 which are far less palatable, and are usually thrown away or 

 cured separately for the cheaper market. 



All storms come to an end finally, and at last the sun shone, 

 the windlass clanked and we were underway. The long delay 

 seemed to have broken our little schooner's spirits, for after 

 being out three or four hours we had gone but as many miles, 

 and those in the wrong direction. 



At length the gentle breeze seemed to revive her and we 

 gently slipped by the Ragged Islands and Cape Mokkavik. 

 That Sunday evening will long be remembered by us, for in 

 addition to the delight we felt at again moving northward, and 

 the charm of a bright evening with a gentle, fair wind and 

 smooth water, allowing us to glide by hundreds of fulmar and 

 shearwater sitting on the water, scarcely disturbed by our pas- 

 sage, the moon was paled by the brightest exhibition of the 

 aurora we saw while in northern waters. Its sudden darts into 

 new quarters of the heavens, its tumultuous waves and gentle 

 undulations, now looking like a fleecy cloud, now like a gigantic 

 curtain shaken by still more gigantic hands into ponderous folds 

 — all were reflected in the quiet water and from the numerous 

 bergs, great and small, that dotted the surface, till the beholder 



